Performance analysis of supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycles integrated with solar central receiver system

Solar thermal energy is a promising source of energy, especially for high intensive solar irradiation locations such as Saudi Arabia. Solar tower is considered the most promising concentrating solar power technologies in the future. On the other hand, supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) Brayton cycles have recently received attention by the researchers in the field due to the high thermal efficiency that can be attained from the cycle which can reach 50%. In this paper, thermodynamic analysis of a solar thermal tower system integrated with supercritical CO₂ cycles is presented. A mathematical model was developed to achieve the objective of the present study. The first part of the model deals with generating a heliostat field in a conventional radial staggered configuration. The generated heliostat field is then evaluated for its optical performance. The heat collected through the heliostat field is redirected to the central receiver where the supercritical CO₂ thermal cycles are integrated. Total net thermal heat and power generated from the thermal system are presented and discussed for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.